"Spiders" in Asimov's

[mount_oregano]

My story "Spiders" is in the March issue of Asimov's Science Fiction, on sale now.
http://www.asimovs.com/_issue_0803/tableofcontents.shtml

On a distant planet, a man and his son take a walk in the forest, where the animals and plants are not what they seem....

Comments

[dkolodji.livejournal.com]

Congrats, Sue!

This is fantastic! I'm off to find a copy!

[mount-oregano.livejournal.com]

I wish I could do that, but Asimov's is not for sale in Spain. Instead, I asked my mother-in-law in Milwaukee to promise to buy and send me a copy as my Christmas gift. So I haven't actually seen the magazine yet.

[aenodia.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on having your story published in Asimov's. May there be many more of your writings published.

[pjthompson]

Excellent!

[mount-oregano.livejournal.com]

Thank you. That's sort of what I said when I learned Sheila wanted to buy it, only less coherently.

[(Anonymous)]

Yes--if she'd wanted to buy one of mine, I probably would have drooled down my chin. ;-)

[pjthompson]

Er...that was me wiping the drool from my chin.

[birdhousefrog.livejournal.com]

Oh yippee, how terribly exciting! I think it might be out now and I haven't been to the Borders with the REALLY good periodical section since xmas! Yay Sue! Long time coming, m'dear!

Oz

[mount-oregano.livejournal.com]

Thank you. And thank you for enjoying a post that is pure marketing. Marketing is necessary, I suppose, but I'll try to be more creative soon.

[ericreynolds.livejournal.com]

Excellent! I look forward to reading it.

[mount-oregano.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I hope you enjoy it.

[neutronjockey.livejournal.com]

Woot woot . Here's to talented friends!

[mount-oregano.livejournal.com]

Thank you thank you. The story is actually set in a novel I'm trying to sell, and I found that having already worked out the ecology made the story feel more like mainstream fiction to write. It was a place I knew and understood, as if they had taken a walk in the neighborhood where I live -- if my neighborhood were filled with strange little predators. Okay, besides lizards and alley cats and the occasional raptor, which I have here in my neighborhood. You know, now that I think about it, this ecology is strange, too.

[dkolodji.livejournal.com]

Sue,

I read your story over the weekend and wanted to tell you how much I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The ecology of this planet really does feel right - I LOVE the idea that they call these alien creatures lizards and spiders, not because they are lizards and spiders but because they somewhat resemble earth lizards and spiders.

And I LOVED the ending - without giving anything away, it was PERFECT!

[mount-oregano.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I got the idea about the names because that happened with colonists on Earth. What Americans call a robin is a bird that's merely the same colors as the European robin. What they call a buffalo is really a bison but it looks a lot like a Eurasian buffalo. So it seemed logical that humans on another planet will call something birdlike a bird, though it really isn't.

[birdhousefrog.livejournal.com]

Nice, tight story. Really elegant. And you have that push/pull of marriage down pat. Reading that short piece whetted my appetite for an entire novel about this. Very detailed world-building that came across in the short story. Greg has been ragging on me about having too much world-building in my short stories, but while this was a lot, every bit was building the storyline. Congrats. Hope your reviewers like it as much as I did.